Huddersfield’s NHS Trust appeared to escape unscathed after reports of a large-scale cyber attack targeting NHS organisations across the country.
Sixteen NHS sites across England experienced significant problems with IT and telephone networks thought to have been affected by the ransomware attack.
Trusts and hospitals in London, Blackburn, Nottingham, Cumbria and Hertfordshire were hit.
Some GPs abandoned electronic devices to use pen and paper. In some hospitals phone and IT systems were shut down.
Asked if Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust had been affected, a spokeswoman said: “No, not us.”
Trust chiefs may have been forgiven for breathing a sigh of relief. The installation of new electronic patient record (EPR) software at Huddersfield Royal Infirmary over the May Day Bank Holiday weekend took down phone lines and led to the doubling of A&E waiting times. One woman attending with her 93-year-old grandmother was told to expect an eight-hour wait.
In a statement the NHS said: “At this stage we do not have any evidence that patient data has been accessed. We will continue to work with affected organisations to confirm this. This attack was not specifically targeted at the NHS and is affecting organisations from across a range of sectors.”
The Patients Association said the attack “appears to have been highly co-ordinated and aggressive, and a police investigation will no doubt be required.”
